Free Service Lets Soldiers, Spouses Record DVDs

Most of us have used DVDs or seen movies them. Now they're helping military families stay in touch with their loved ones deployed overseas. All family members have to do is go to the library on Fort Stewart or Hunter Army Airfield and record away.

One of the hardest things for military families to experience during deployments is not being able to communicate with their loved ones as much as they'd like to.

For Summer Jones, watching her daughter Lauren grow up without her father around was something she worried about until recently. Now she can use the Army's video messaging system that can record up to 30 minutes of footage directly onto DVD.

"He was like, 'Okay, make as many as you can,'" she told us.

"They come in maybe once a month and they bring their children, and so the dad and the mom can see how the children have progressed growing," said Marilyn Mancuso, library director at Fort Stewart.

Now little Lauren's father can still watch her grow up even though he's thousands of miles away.

But the recordings don't stop on this end. Across the world in Iraq and Afghanistan, soldiers also get to make DVDs and send them back home.

With no limit on how many DVDs family members can make, military spouses like Summer say making these recordings helps her husband Gregory feel like she and their daughter are right there with him.

"Honestly, since my husband's been gone, a lot of people are trying to find support or ways to get through, this is the best things to do," she said.

It cost families absolutely nothing to make these DVDs. All they have to do is call and make an appointment.